Close Reading

I’m a Canadian nurse and I lived in the US for 10 years during my career. I did it when I was young to gain work experience and travel with friends. It gave me a lot of insight in how it feels to live in both countries. I’ve been a nurse and patient in both counties so I also know how it feels to work, live and be a resident in both. \n\nI cannot articulate enough how it has confirmed to me how fortunate I am to be Canadian. The perks to living in the US were very superficial and frivolous things that matter very little in the broad scheme of things,….which I see as more restaurant chains, cheaper restaurant food, more shopping options, etc. As a young person when I lived there,…those things seemed amazing but matter far less as I get older. \n\nWhen I lived there, I paid a fraction of the income taxes that I paid in Canada but it’s only short term gain for long term pain. The cost of health care, the amounts of gov funded benefits (disability, EI, pension, etc) in the US makes it well worth paying taxes to offset these things as in Canada. I have had cancer 3 times in 5 years and I’ve not paid a cent for treatment, scans, surgery, etc in Canada. My employer held my job for 2 years and I received long term disability of 70% of my yearly wages and my employer paid my full pension and benefits as I was off of work. After 2 years, my cancer returned and was deemed incurable so I will continue to receive this pay and benefits until I’m 65 and can retire as I can no longer work. I have no financial worries as I battle cancer. \n\nTo contrast,…my US employer was a world reknowned hospital that had excellent pay and benefits. Had I been working there when I was diagnosed with cancer, I would only have gotten full pay for 6 weeks until my sick time and vacation time was used up. Then I was eligible for a fraction of my income for 3 months, which would not be enough to live on. I would not have had my pension paid. After that, I’d receive no more pay and my employer would hold my job without pay for 6 months and then I’d be let go. My cancer required nearly 2 years off of work so after 5 months of this minimal pay, I’d have no income, no job and no benefits with a new pre existing condition to ensure that I’d have a snowballs chance in hell of getting future coverage. Meanwhile during that 5 months of some pay, I’d still need to pay huge costs of treatment despite having insurance but that would disappear after I was let go from my job. I’d have to return to work during my treatment just to afford to continue it. I have many US friends that had a similar cancer that worked throughout to cover basic cancer care while I was able to recuperate without working or fearing being unable to pay. There is nothing comparable to this when you are sick. It is everything!\n\nSadly, many of my American friends are very ill informed on how health care works in other countries and don’t see the shortcomings in their own. Ironically though, they are willing to argue it without proper information so I often find that bizarre. While lived there I felt as though I was in a bubble where the only news that I saw was US news. I saw no info or minimal about Canada in my whole time there,…aside from falsehoods about health care to scare people away from seeking change. “Canadians are all dying while waiting”, “they are all coming to the US for care”, “they pay 80% income tax” etc. All propaganda,…some from politicians or those that should know better. It was truthfully mind boggling to me how educated people could know so little about the world. It almost felt as though they heard so much propaganda about how terrible other places were while only having knowledge of the US, that it ensured that things would stay the same without anyone wanting beneficial changes to dysfunctional policies (like health care, cost of meds, lack of gun regulations, etc). It’s very bizarre.

He should go back to india and put what he learned in Canada to good use to educate Indians. So he has been in Canada for 5 years with no plans go fo back after his education?

Its a simple thing. Folks are trying to leave for a better life, they then got to know about Canada giving 3years postgraduate work permit to international students who studied for two years and, there are permanent residence programs you qualify and can apply for after getting one year Canadian work experience. This is what encouraged many international students to head in this direction. Unfortunately, half of about 800,000 international students admitted to Canada came from India (if i'm not mistaken), many of them had to borrow the money to pay fees or their family sold their ancestral land or used it borrow money with the hope that when their child who they sponsored with the money is done, he/she will be the family's hope to not only pay back, but help them relocate too. However, the picture is not looking like it anymore as the demand for jobs surged and many are not able to get jobs or can't find the kind of jobs that can make them get PR and, their current work permit is about to expire, which means they may be faced with going back home with nothing so, they are pulling every string they can to stay back because, returning will mean they are a failure and can even cause their family a lot of emotional damage. Infact, i have heard of some of them who committed suicide as they are not meeting up and are not ready to go and face the shame back home. So, what you are seeing is the definition of desperation!

My question is are they coming here to study or work? If they are coming here for study let them go back after the finished, if they are coming here for work then why there are using study permit to come. Don’t blame Canada government

Hi Tyler.\nI would move but probably more likely if my other half were an American girl.\nJust one thing - I think you pay a lot more for your health care than what I pay when I want to go private.\nWhen I want to see the doctor, it doesn't really bother me whether I use the NHS surgery (along the street) or whether I choose to see my private doctor (even though I don't have insurance. The only consideration is that I have to travel cross town to see my private doctor).\nI'd love to join one of your bowling clubs and sports centres.\nAnd go all round with Amtrak.

We have pretty much very similar challenges in Australia. I would say living cost is even higher than Canada. But the good aspect is the weather. In Western Australia we enjoy over 300d Blue sunny skies and in Winter although rainy, we seldom get below freezing temperatures. So i don't need to worry about damaging my LFP batteries for my Offgrid solar system.\nAnother benefit is the bike path network in WA is extensive. You can pretty much get to anywhere on a bike, riding mostly on a very nice and safe bike path. I cover 60km every day travelling to/from work on my ebike. And it takes less than 1 hour for each trip.\nCrime rate has been getting worse though. It is fuel by drug use. So if people go out especially at night, you definitely need to be highly alert and watch your 6 o'clock. One can get attacked for no obvious reason and very commonly from behind. ???

Canada has a tiny population for its size, so growth isn't a problem in and of itself. But in order for growth to benefit this country, those people should a) know the language and the culture of Canada b) go to and develop rural areas instead of flocking to overpopulated cities c) be qualified and bring useful skills instead of making coffee at Tim's.

Canada has been the down the road of high immigration in the past, erven in the face of housing shortages. This happened right after World War II. To deal with the shortage of rental housing stock then in the large cities, the government put demands on immigrants and refugees to settle in agricultural areas and small town Canada. But, it seems today that most immigrants just want to go to the already overcrowded cities, especially Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal. Rural Canada is now facing manpower shortages, but has a fair amount of housing, as many small towns have actually shrunk in population over the years. and could use the people. Immigrants assimilate better in small towns.

ABSOLUTELY!!! International students should only be allowed entrance to Canadian educational institutions AFTER all Canadians have been admitted!! Universities are using the cost of international students to GUARANTEE their salaries keep going up, EVERY year there’s a tuition hike & that’s NOT right or ethical!!! Some of these Deans & Professoes are making 6 figures!!!

most mass shootings in schools happen in small towns in the US.. we have gun culture here too, literally every person on my street owned guns, we go hunting, we shoot for sport, we have problems with certain wildlife, the difference is we don't allow idiots to own guns, if you want to own a gun you have to go through training, prove you're not stupid, from what i see, you're gun culture attracts allot of stupid people who have been fed and normalized the idea of using guns on their neighbors by the NRA..

Why should Canadians support Indian international students? If you want support, finish your studies and go back to India and do not use the student/work visa route to never return. If your genuine intention to come to Canada was to study then once finished return home.

3rd generation albertan.\nUnfortunately single mom who was priced out of the current city I was born in. Luckily was able to purchase a home 6 years ago in a smaller town on the outskirts of the city. Now my commute is 2 hours a day and my gas bill has tripled and all my expenses. \nThen I drive into work as an educator and can barely make it through the day bc the school system doesn’t support the amount of students. Classroom sizes doubling, no supports, classrooms taking place in hallways. Had to go on stress leave awhile back, but could barely get medical attention. Had to literally beg a doctor to take me on.. only reason I felt I got medical attention was bc he was my mom’s doctor. Yup this is life now and not fair to anyone. Problem is I feel I don’t have anywhere to “go back to” \n.. I’d leave Canada too now if I could, def. Not what it used to be.

Let me start by saying, I absolutely love TO, I’m from Ireland and visit my relatives every year, recently twice a year. I’ve been going for over 20 years now, unfortunately I’ve seen a decline in cleanliness, not that Ireland is cleaner, it’s not, but Toronto used to be a lot cleaner. In the last few years I have seen a drastic increase of people with mental health issues, sad. Saying all that, I’m back in September again and will be looking forward to meeting up with family, friends and making new memories, God bless you all ☘️?????

Yeah see medical issues using my tax dollar on my medicare. Why don't you go home to your own country and use its medical system cuz you know Indy is an amazing country isn't it?

South Asian Indians are fourth generation Canadians and are educated, successful and have assimilated with the European culture. The french lady should see Montreal, it is cool to see Indians, Chinese speaking French. Do you ask why there are too many Chinese in Chinatown? Sadly the new immigration are bad Trudeau policies that India wanted deported back. Others are temporary honest Indian students that are being ripped off by Canadian wrong policies of shameless cash grab. Assimilation for new immigrants could be something in common e.g. free classical piano lessons for everyone in school. Music and language is a great first step in communication. The drug problem has nothing to do with immigration, it is the result of their own culture of drug abuse and bad Canadian policies. I think it is sad that the woman seems to be so negative without realizing the she has to care and use her power for good by demanding that no Canadian should be on the streets, this is why ALL Canadians (especially include South Asian Indians) pay taxes. where is our money going? is not the Canadian Government responsible for the welfare of ALL Canadians? we were the peacekeepers. Canada is a puppet to western primitive thinking foreign policy in a proxy war to destroy beautiful Christian Russia?? Trump has outsmarted Trudeau on every agreement. Canadians are paying double to a country that wants our water!!! I wish Senior Trudeau was here to protect Canadians.

We dont care.. you used us and were going to fix it... come legaly and moraly.. cant do that bye bye

This sort of info should be passed to people using our pigin english cos eventually it will go viral. Recall that the Canadian immigration officers are also on social media. The more you give out this info using english, the more aggressive they become at the airport.

You've gained a subscription today for covering REAL stories. \n\nThis is a real problem in Canada. Trudeau has messed up our wonderful country. \n\nBrampton, unfortunately, is not the only city that is affected. I have lived in Milton for 15 years, and it used to be very multicultural . I used to love stepping outside my door, going to my church, walink around the town, going to shop and seeing all different races and nationalities. In the past four years, the demographics have drastically changed, and now they are taking over Milton. I don't see multiculturalism in Milton anymore. Makes me feel like an outsider in my now country, where I was born and raised.

I was there, vancouver, around 2018 to before covid, I feel they might have gotton the welfare wrong. my salary after tax,heath insurance is 40% left to settle all my living expenses. and who benefits? eg. drug addicts wait for free drugs every morning, a women keep boring kids to get free welfare, this I heard- a refugee with 3 wives and 12 kids got at least a free house and van courtersy of the local govt, a newly minted immigrant citizen also gotten $1200 senior welfare. Just felt that normal working folks are getting a very short stick. Also not sure if the free university education is all that good, it uses a lot of tax money, but higher earnings go to labour jobs like a roofer could earn $150k vs a business admin graduate earing $60k avg .

They are using the student visa to get IN to Canada, FIRST, and from there an immigration consultant who normally are from their own ethnic background will persuade these students under false pretense that they (consultant) would be able to help them get permanent residency. This is a scam in itself by their own people.\nGovernment should make a stand regarding the student visa policy on temporary work permit for students, then after the program ends, they should go. Why grant these thousands of students permanent residency at this time. There's already a problem of housing shortage and soaring rental cost happening at the same time. \n Manitoba's 2 year extension will attract these protesters in PEI to move to Manitoba. Bet on it.

Who said they don't want to go home? Canada invites international students with a promise to give them PR if they can finish school and qualify using one of the programs. I know because that's how I came to Canada. Unlike the US where it's hard to stay and you need a marriage, in Canada you can use a qualifying job. Usually people sponsored by family to get PR, as well as refugees, are put ahead of international students as well as those on work permits. \n\nIn the meantime, International students over-pay into post secondary, as well as working off campus and paying taxes, but are always last in line when it comes to being granted PR. The rules change so much so fast, it's easy to find yourself out of time and kicked out of the country. \n\nSo whoever watches this will be happy that International students are getting kicked out, but the problem with too much immigration won't be solved because the country is still taking in so many refugees. Right now it's international students getting the axe and are the scape goats in ths game. \n\nAlso, the reason why Canada takes in more immigrants beyond the obvious, is because they want to eventually do away with property rights. So while people can cheer kicking out international students, it doesn't prevent the inevitable from happening, because the politicians took in too many new people.. \n\nAnyway, good luck to everyone, from either side of this debate, it's bad news all around wharever the final outcome.

They came here for the pretense of school, when school is done. GO HOME, use what you learned to better your own home.

Sadly we have extremely weak leaders in Canada. Our Canadian young people thanks to DEI can’t find summer work so they can afford the next semester at school. They came under false pretences. Kick them out. I have no problem with people from India but any people group who uses trickery to come or stay in a country need to go. I am shocked by Pierre. Wow I had such hope for him.

Every international students MUST go home after they graduate!! They CANNOT use their student status to stay in Canada & take jobs AWAY from Canadians!!! No more international students!!!

They all have fake admissions letters to Canadian academic institutions there are unscrupulous agents in India who are sending these students abroad to Canada using fake documents… this is what is really going own know they don’t want to leave so they are doing this ?. They should be forced to leave asap. The entitlement is just shocking they aren’t even Canadian leave leave …… enough already. We don’t need more Tim Horton workers and Uber drivers ?. It goes to show they do t come to study it’s just a back door to immigration. Blame Trudeau he opens up the flood gates .

It's time to go!! Our government is a criminal organization, but at least you have a degree. Take that home and make use of it, apply for permanent residency the legal way. Don't come with shortcuts, it isn't respected.

@True North\nHonest fact: Canada is too generous and fair country. Many people of different backgrounds have exploited our countries relaxed policies, and our politicians have remained oblivious to these facts. \n\nSome of these students claim false refugee status/claims and other pretend to be students, only to expedite and circumvent the regular PR application process. Our country is great, but quality has deteriorated during current leadership. \n\nAll these students should go back home and then apply for WP or PR from home country, as the guidelines use to be. There should be limitation/cap on number of applications of students/ PR from particular country.\n\nAustralia has banned international students' from Indian states: Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujrat and Jammu and Kashmir over alleged submission of fraudulent documents and high rate of dropouts. Most of these students make up the majority that are seen on streets protesting now. \n\nOur policy target is to import 1.5 million immigrants in 2 years. Based on survey 25 % are Indians that 375,000 additional Indian nationals over 2 years. If cap is not placed, Canada will lose it diversity. We do need Quality over Quantity.

Hey here’s a bright idea go back to controlled immigration instead of taking in poor quality immigrants in the masses. And also don’t fall for the ‘racist/discrimination” tactics they’re using to make you walk back on deportation

The country has no use for them. Surplus to requirements. Go back to India and help build the service industries there. You now have the skills, or was it something else you wanted when you left for Canada?

When you're finished, time to leave. Go home and put your education to use in your own country. \nABSOLUTELY NO EXTENSIONS. WE OWE YOU NOTHING.

Domino's Pizza, Tim Hortons, Uber Eats will do just fine. These people can't stay. They need to go. Canada is ridiculously over populated. They just want more votes. Current citizens have a hard time finding jobs as it is. I hope Pierre uses some special powers to reverse whatever Trudeau does with them.

I think the main objective of “international student “ program is being ignored and lost here. The objective of bringing “international students” to a country is for them to study and after they finish their studies to go back to their country. Isn’t that the case? Absolutely, there should be no other expectations.Then why are they even entertaining this nonsense. Unless they want to use the “International student” program as a backdoor to enter and work in Canada, and it looks like that’s the case. They finished their “studies” they need to go back to their home country.

They’re plan is to get PR and once they get it they usually go back to India or it’s easier to gain access to the US, Canada is just being used for this purpose

I'm black and was born in Canada but I'm leaving. If I wanted to live in Mumbai I would go there. Sidenote: I don't feel bad for white ppl, this is a reckoning for colonization and trying to use immigrants to prop up your standard of living. Ciao ?

I have lived in Toronto for over 20 years. I love this city, but I can no longer afford to live here even with a great job and decent salary. When I received a rent increase of 10% for my 1 bedroom apartment on January 1 followed by a 3% annual salary increase shortly after that, the writing was on the wall. That gap is never going to close and things are going downhill fast from here now that I'm at a point where rent eats up more than half of my monthly earnings. The 30% rule is and has been a joke for a very long time. On top of that being mandated back to the office and forced to take the TTC which is a non-stop gong show sealed the deal. I'm leaving. I have decided to move back to Winnipeg to be closer to family, where housing is still affordable and I'll still make a better than living wage. Never thought I would find myself returning to live there, but now I'm actually looking forward to it because the downsides I used to focus on no longer exist when the high possibility of ending up homeless is removed from the equation.

Money extortion business by govt world wide and these students live like 3 or 4 in one room by greedy renters who charge expensive rents as there is no rent control acts and go in poverty and low paying slavery jobs and business uses them like a slave or get into work accident at night shifts and never get documented and work in cash and sometimes no pay cheque. Canada has become worse then 3 rd world country where people are malnourished, no money, no housing , no proper working hours and threats from employers to fire them or work like slave in factories and labour system to protect workers in favour of industrialists. Shame on Canada who has given all power , authority to corrupt and illegal system and no free speech at all.

R.I.P Good Ol' Brampton ! Tons of Fake Students with no intention to study or go back to their home country. Colleges in GTA and Halton/Niagara region are making money like crazy! Crime rate is sky rocketing, car jacking and stealing, and forced home entries and thefts are going crazy!! Thousands of fake students are committing crimes and threatening Canadians! Few other thousands stole tons of jobs from the real Canadians and high school students already! Even Niagara and Thorold / Wellend is screwed up and getting worst everyday by the same people! The Blame goes to Liberals & Justin T. First of all, send back all the fake students back to their country of origin! You'll solve more then 50% of the problem! I feel sorry for Canada already and liberals seems like not worried at all. Waiting for Conservatives so bad to come in power and deal with this already messed up issue otherwise, we all witnessed how REAL Canada and Ontario used to be till 2010 or so ... but not anymore. Thousands of people are already planning to move to Europe, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand already or already fled!

Canada sucks. Lived here my whole life. 34 years near Toronto. Here's a list of other stuff not mentioned.\n1) terrible school system. Basically go private or subject your kids to liberal ideology and creative learning which puts math and literacy scores at a 20 year low.\n2) terrible Healthcare system. You can wait in line for 1 hour at a walk in clinic. 6 hours at emergency. There's hardly any doctors working.\n3) terrible transit. The public transit is outdated. The roads are always busy with 3 year long construction projects. They actively reduce road lanes to add in bicycle lanes, that are only uses half the year because no one rides a bicycle in -10 degree C. But yeah, we'll still plow the bike lane with tax payer $.\n4) increase in crime. More recent development but lets say it started picking up during the lockdowns in 2020. A lot of immigrants that don't give a f about the law. They don't give a f about the police. They get out on bail the next day. They do crime in broad daylight. It's insane. I don't feel safe. Plus, it's hard to own firearms in canada. You can't protect yourself.\n5) no cultural cohesion. The culture sucks. Bland, boring, fake.\n\nHonestly, stay away from Canada. The only thing it had going for it was it polite and safe. But now it's a crime spree out there. Last I heard, 55 car jacking happen everyday.

Most of the British are disgusted to see how the peace of their Country is disturbed by the so called supporters of Hamas not Palestine. Hamas always hide behind women and children and make use of them. That's what is going on. Now everyone are fed up of them. You can see how they are treated.

VANCOUVER BC CANADA - my home since 1972 , I used to work up North underground mining - drilling / blasting for 8+ months and then take the summer off \nand play golf and have fun - you can go to the beach and skiing on the mountains all on the same day - 1st came the Mass Immigration from Asia where Real Estate \nPrices 2 X and 3 X - Now ever thing here only the rich can afford - We have close to 5000 people homeless as 1 bedroom starts at $2000 a month if you can \nfind one - most people have to share . MEANWHILE 1+ Million new comers - New Voters are given food , shelter , spending money and some will be on Welfare \nfor life as many lack language skills and have little education = $$$ BILLIONS $$$ TAX PAYERS MONEY DISAPPEARS - TIME TO BRING IN THE MILITARY !

sorry, what is Canada? The title is offensive (and not in a PC way).. if its multicultural, i get it.. but the title itself makes it seem like if you're from an Indian background, you're not Canadian? Lots of scared people these days... I guarantee you ask anyone of these people making a comment.. go 3 questions deep and you'll find a scared insecure person, who is frightened about their place in society, and just uninformed about anything they're not used to

I’ve been in Canada for over 24 years and I have never seen it like this in my life!\nThe main cause of the majority of issues is the housing crisis.\n\nWhat a lot of you might not be aware of is that we have not been building homes to keep up with the demand for over two decades. That’s why the price for housing has increased astronomically. And then our government decided to basically allow unfettered immigration in order to take advantage of the new immigrants’ money so they can use it to fund the Canadian Pension Plan.\n\nJust an FYI, the way CPP is funded is that the current group of working people are paying for the current group of retired seniors. And due to the lack of childbirths and people living longer, the CPP can no longer afford to take care of all the seniors in its system. Thus, the government devised a plan to have more people coming here so as to milk the money they have. Actually, they’ve even gone to the extent to basically allow seniors to be willingly euthanized… it’s absolutely bonkers.\n\nBut anyway, I digress… so then with housing at astronomical prices, you’re now pushing out the poor people onto the streets, causing homelessness. \n\nAnd when people are homeless, the average person will do drugs to escape reality and commit crimes to survive. Which is why it’s now increasingly dangerous in public spaces. \n\nThen, the transportation also never accounted for such a massive increase in population. At least not in Toronto. Which is also causing major inconvenience to go anywhere. \n\nIt used to be that if you lived in the suburbs, you could drive into Toronto pretty quickly but now, it takes like an hour and a half to two hours, making it extremely difficult to get around. And also, hard to take advantage of the “lower” housing prices in the suburbs.\n\nBut that’s not all. Part of the issue is that the Trudeau government wants to no longer have Canada use our oil and gas overnight, which is causing the increase in gas prices. Many Canadians still rely on gas because electric cars are not efficient in Canadian weather and are simply too expensive for your average person. And yet they cut off our supply of oil and gas which causes the price inflation of transport and anything that requires to be moved such as groceries and supplies.\n\nAnd don’t get me started on how our healthcare system is falling apart… even though we pay some of the highest taxes in the world…

lol my news video was used ? (it was just a snippet of it) that news interview I did a few months back was in regards to daycare costs and cost of living it’s horrible in this country. $1000-2000 daycare so I can go work and get the min amount of groceries needed it’s just become such a sad place

The majority of Muslims in our country and our WEF Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister both want to destroy our democracy. This is so blatant when mobs of these radical Muslims can take over our streets, use our democracy against us and with not a single arrest or deportation order, as compared with the Trucker Convoy, and we all know what happened there. It’s sickening to see our country going to shit.

Yeah, I’ll probably just live out of my car forever. I imagine I could get a pretty good thing going if I used solar panels and satellite internet in the middle of a forest.

Trudeau has nuked the way of life that Canadians used to enjoy. The problem with the election system is that you could get elected prime minister even with about only 30% of the popular vote. Not saying that a popular vote is the right way to go, but we have a population of around 38 million, and only about 30% actually voted for Trudeau. Canada is a sinking ship.

Why do they keep showing Justin Trudeau? These problems have been building for decades. I sold my house 5 years ago for over 100% what I paid for it, and lived in it for about 5 years. The current government had been in power for two years at the time. We’re never going to solve these problems as a nation if we just use them for partisan election engineering instead of recognizing the real causes.

??????? good luck to all Canadians ?? getting a good job those Indians take over Canada ?? everywhere you go they're there many Canadians are living in the streets ???????with nooooooo place to called their home ??????it's hurts knowing the way I used to saw Canadian people living before ????? I do my best for a few of them them sometimes ????????

Those Palestinians were co-operated with Hamas in Gaza (some by force)\n\nIf they will go back there, Hamas will continue their evil activities and use them to protect themselves as they did before (hiding in kindergartens, schools, hospitals…)\n\nI’m wondering why their brothers in other Arab countries aren’t accepting them. ?‍♀️

Because they know you using Visitor Visa to stay and you not going back